New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-02-28
SONE OF MR.. LOWELL'S OPINIONS
NOTES ON SHAKESPEARE AND on CRITICS


From The Chteaqo Tribune
Mr. Lowell himself surprised everybody iheuoHis
General Smith, By announcing that ne Wouii ho'
speak on Ame lean politics. but had chosen iterarJ
subject SHAH speare. The disappointment oi very
large number of people was manifest VI course MI.
IoSell ON Shakespeare good but the audience
had gathered 10 hear about Amer politics and the
sudden change OF programme Was not quite TO IT'S
taste. Mr., Lowes lace is very iam'ilnr one 10 me
American public. He is large man OF i'm o"inG pres
enee ard figure almost too Outh'u TO give crrdehce
to his remark .rniug tavotie nassage that ne
had known and loved IL Tor nearly 1lty years. his
head is very large and its impression upon the eye
NAV be perhaps expressed by the adjective Ie0nlne
The beard is ull and long and Is oarktr next the
skin than at the ends where il is snow white. The
mus,ache "a lull and sweeping ami immensely long.
i,s white ends falling iull three inches bcow
the beard at either side OF the chin The eyebrows
are large and bushy, Overhan ng remarkably genial
and expressive eye. which indeed Is the prom. ent
feature of the face since its lower halt Is buried be-
hind the mass of bead. Eye glasses are worn just
shove the nOsr. and were used only when reference
made TO the mannscr'pt; His hair is parted ex-
acuy in the middle and brushed mothly down Over
either temple 1t is quite dark and shows nut little
viii g, il startling contrast 10 thu snowwhe beard
and mn-tache He was IN iull evening costume His
coat fitted TO perfection and his linen Was immaculate
TO degree His attitudes easy and unoonven-
tional and his manner agreeable. without any sug-
pestion OF being pretentious. His voice quite
agreeable ana smooth and even without being
monotonous. In substance he spoke as follows
sIs it not ask a rel eff to meet no" and thea with
person who things precisely as they are And
especially is it not relief sometimes 10 meet such
uf subtlety sometimes almost ref eshing III an are
when criticism is peculiarly what is called creative
when each critic bound to dive deeper and to CONE
up-I won't venture to say with legendarybigher
than his predecessors and processing TO have seen
something in the depths OF the primrose that nobody
ever ssw there before have IN the course OF ms LIE
met with critics ho have gone about 10 persuade me
that ought to like Gray, Cooper, or Scott. or
Byron, and know not whom else, SIMPLY because
they were not as Words orth or Shelley was Nay.
It has been limited sometimes that even Shakespeare
himself was better than he should be. Whatever
feast OF Wit has been spread for US by the choicest
spirits of all times really to be in danger Of
finding ourselves like Sancho in his Governorsnip OF
Barataria-carcely Is Il dish set before us but
the steward touches 1t with his sta and orders 1t
away as OF nature to disagree with US.
"No doubt it Is perfectly true that the very highest
forms of pOetca mag nation are OF supreme rarity
and that their elimination mrassohae dntehsy o.
can say lightning There Is certainly no such pang
OF intellectual pleasure a. when our own inaghatohs
drawn to tn and kndled by tna of the poet IN such
supreme moment mingled With 1t in an embrace
OF FIRE but there is region OF mldei ana more
equable delights, less 1everish and perhaps more
wholesome for human natures daily food. II man
cannot live by bread alone, so neither can he live by
stmuants and spices alone IL is one OF the highest
offices OF criticism to teach us how TO ma 6eid Oh
not only what is best but also what Is good OF ITS
kind III all the Mf. Ruskin holds OWNING rod
OF exquisite sensitiveness as well tor the more
reconcile OF purified enjoyment as Tor those
more obvious and nearer to the SUI face and the
breaIth OF the great Goethes mind, the cathocity OF
bis culture and therefore OF his Apprehension, is
ever, variety OF merit be 1t high or low
sHowever excellent tee style OF criticism may be
which finds infinite depths and marvellous revelations
In a primrose 1t may yet be very erievUusly misap-
blied think it has been VIGOROUSLY msappiicd OF
late years the OF Shakespeare aud Especially
by some OF the later German critics There has been
acompetition among them in seeing more and deeper
than any one has seen before. Shak' speare Is
supposed to have written with many conflicting
rules OF mans relation to the universe as would have
prevented his writing at all. simpler view OF the
ease would seem to be that he WAS playwright who
because he happened also to be great poet and pro-
found observer, gradually developed into the most
marvellous dramatst that ever lived.
All that should believe it absolutely safe to say
of Shakespeare is that he never wrote deliberate
nonsense, nor was Knowingly guilty, OF detective
coms.endable modesty and hesitating reserve,
conscious that the meaning OF words and still more,
the assoc aons which they call up-and an Important
tact always to remember in reading literature as old
as eare-has changed since his day, That the
denomination of many words variable. aud that
Ehakespeaies ear might very likely nave peeh as
delicate his other senses
aFor nv own part am convinced that il we had
PLAYS as he wrote them and not rs they
have come do u.s. dciolmed by the careless hurry
OF the copysts, who copied the parts at the emcnda-
ton Of incompetent actors. the mishe8r1Dg OF sh0it
hand rritors. am convinced that We should not fDd
dernoustrably faulty passage obacured for
spy other than becau OF its depth OF thought
or It's highest subtlety OF phrase. know that In say
ing this am laying myself open to ths rePoach o,
appIyine common sense to a. subject which OF all
others demands uncommon sense tor its adequate
treatment; demands perception and divination
almost as nfalhble the operations OF that creative
nind the attempts to measure which arc tusve and
seemingly abnormal.
No whole sosns of Shakespeare, even In his
prentice ds,s could be mistaken tor the work OF any